Apparatus foe cooling and freezing fluids



(No Model.)

A. KUX.

APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND FREEZING FLUIDS. No. 320,144. Patented June 16, 1885.

mlwesses: Luwsniafl lUNlTED STATES ATET @rrrcn.

ADOLF KUX, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

APPARATUS FOR COOLING AND FREEZING FLUEDS.

'lEClFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320.14%, dated June 16, 1885.

Application filed July 19, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADoLF KUX, of the city of Berlin, Prussia, Germany, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for Cooling and Freezing Fluids; and the following is a specification thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts.

The object of the invention is to cool fluids to a very low temperature by means of an apparatus consisting of a series of devices for carrying out different processes, as explained in the following specification. It is a wellknown fact that by evaporating a fluid (without supplying heat from the outside) the same is cooled, and that the evaporation takes place more rapidly, and the cooling is therefore much greater, in proportion to the decreasing of the pressure upon the fluid. If a closed vessel containing partly afluid communicates with an air-pump which produces a low vacuum in the vessel, a brisk evaporation takes place; and if the vapors also are taken away by the air-pump or removed by suitable additional means, a proper fluid can be cooled down to a temperature much below that of freezing water. Solutions of salt may be cooled easily to 0 Fahrenheit. The cold fluids produced in this way can be used in their turn for cooling air, fluids, and other objects for different purposes. They can be employed for cooling the air in the cellars of breweries or in other rooms, for cooling beer, milk, and other fluids, for freezing water and other fluids to solid ice, for solidifying drifting sand in mines, and for other purposes.

Figure 1 represents a sectional elevation of my apparatus; Fig. 2, a section of a modification of the cooler.

The new apparatus consists, now, of the following plant:

First, an effective vacuun'i-pump, A, driven in any convenient manner. This pump communicates by the pipe G with,

Second, the absorber B, a cylindrical vessel containing a number of shallow alternating annular and cylindrical dishes, a, furnished with spirally-arranged pipes Z), through which cold water is flowing for cooling the contents of the dishes asulphuric acidwhich is introduced to the annular top dish through the pipe 0. The sulphuric acid flows over the inner rim of this dishinto the next lower cylindrical dish, and after filling it into the next, and so on. The acid in the dishes and that falling from one to the other absorbs the water-vapors drawn by the air-pump A from the cooler 0 through the vessel B, and escapes from the latter through the pipe (Z. The absorber B assists (by freezing the rarefied air of these vapors) the air-pump to produce as nearly as possible an absolute vacuum in,

Third, the cooler O, which contains a saltsolution or similar fluid, the temperature of which is brought down very low by the rapid evaporation of this fluid. The cooler O is in communication with the absorber B by means of the large pipe F, and its contents are agitated by a rotating stirrer, e. The fluid enters the cooler through pipey, and leaves it cold through pipe h.

A variation of the construction is shown in Fig. 2 at 0, representing a vertical cooler with a vertical stirrer, e. The fluid to be cooled enters 0 through the pipe 9, flows over the brims of a number-of shallow dishes, 8, and annular troughs t, to the bottom of the cooler O, and leaves it through the pipe h for its further destination. The top of the cooler communicates with the pipe F. As soon as the air-pump Alias rarefied the airin the absorberB and the cooler O, the fluid contained in the latter commences to evaporate. Its vapors are absorbed by the sulphuric acid of the absorber B and the air expelled by the air-pump A. The more effectively these two apparatus are working the lower will become the temperature of the fluid in the cooler O. The degree of the temperature may be regulated according to the use for which the cold fluid is intended by regulating the time during which the fluid is exposed to the cooling process.

The acid in the absorber B becomes diluted by the absorption of the water-vapors, and must therefore be disengaged from the surplus of water by evaporating the latter and bringing the acid again to its standard concentration. This is done by means of,

Fourth, the concentrator D. It consists of two vessels, 1) 1, one above the other, communicating by means of a number of pipes,

0, which are surrounded by a jacket fastened also to the vessels 1) and q. The vessel q, the pipes o, and partly the vesselp are filled with the diluted acid from the absorber B through the pipe d. Into the space between the pipes 0 and their jacket steam is introduced through the pipef. By the heat of this steam the dilutcd acid is evaporated and concentrated, when it is passed again to the absorber B through the pipe 0. Pipe j carries 01f the condensed water from the steam-space. The vapors extricated from the heated acid go off through the pipe 1", which may, if convenient,

be connected to the air-pump A, in which' case the concentration of the diluted acid is accelerated.

The cold fluid prepared in the cooler O can be 'made use of for different purposes, as mentioned before. For the sake of an example, its application is represented in the draw.- ings to the manufacture of block-ice.

To the bottom of a tank, 70, are fastened a number, of molds, Z, open below and tapering slightly to the closed top. They are provided with hinged or in other ways removable bottoms, and filled with water through the pipes At the beginning of the operation a little steam is admitted from the steam-pipe f through flexible pipes m and through the bottoms of the moldslinto the latter. Hereby all the air contained in the water is driven to the top of the molds, from where it is drawn off by the air-pump A through the pipe u connected to the pipe F. This purifying of the water done, the connections with the steam and the air-pump are shut, and the cold fluid is allowed to enter from the cooler G into the tank is and to surround the molds Z. When the water in the molds Z is frozen their bottoms are opened and the ice-blocks removed. This manipulation is easilyperformed by first drawing off the cold fluid, which may be returned to the cooler O, and by then filling the tank kwith warm water to thaw, superficially, the blocks in the molds. The ice made'in this way is without airbubbles, solid, and thoroughly clear.

It must b: remarked that, if found necessary, a water-spray apparatus may be interposed between the air-pump A and the absorber B, for condensing or absorbing any acid which may have been carried along by the draft created by the air-pump.

I claim nothing that is shown and described in the Windhauser Patent, No. 236,471.

I claim-- 1. The combination of the air-pump A, absorber B, cooler O, and concentrator D, suction-pipes F u,'and steam-pipe f m with the tank Io, having molds l, movable mold-bottoms, and supplypipes or, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. In an apparatus for cooling and freezing fluids, the absorber B, consisting of a cylindrical Vessel containing alternating annular and cylindrical dishes a, with cooling -pipes b, acid-pipes c d, vapor-supply pipe F, and pipe G, in combination with the cooler G and airpump A, substantially as shown and described, and for the purposes explained.

3. In an apparatus for cooling and freezing fluids, the concentrator D, consisting of two vessels, 1) q, connecting-pipes o, outer jacket, inlet and outlet pipes d c, steam-pipef, the condensed-water pipe j, and the vapor-outlet r, in combination with the air-pump A, substantially as shown and described, and for the purposes explained.

4. The combination of the air-pump A with the pipe G, absorber B, alternating annular and cylindrical dishes a, coils b, pipes c d, vapor-pipe F, cooler O, stirrer e, pipes g h, concentrator D, and pipes f, j, and r, substantially as herein shown and described.

This specification signed by me this 4th day of June, 1884.

ADOLF KUX.

Witnesses:

CARL T. BUROHARDT, B. R01. 

